1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard disk drive and more particularly, to a hard disk drive having a disk protector and a magnetic head protector to protect a disk from an external impact.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD), one of the types of auxiliary memory devices of a computer, reads data stored in a magnetic disk or records data on the magnetic disk by using a magnetic head.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional hard disk drive. FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the hard disk drive shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional hard disk drive includes a housing 10, a spindle motor 30 installed in the housing 10 rotating a magnetic disk (hard disk) 20, and an actuator 40 having a magnetic head (not shown) recording data on the disk 20 and reproducing the data recorded on the disk 20.
The housing 10 is installed in a main body (not shown) of a computer (not shown) and includes a base plate 11 supporting both the spindle motor 30 and the actuator 40 and a cover plate 12 coupled to an upper portion of the base plate 11 to enclose and protect the disk 20. Typically, the housing 10 is formed of stainless steel or aluminum.
The disk 20 is a recording medium on which data is recorded. One or a plurality of disks can be spaced a predetermined distance from one another. The disk 20 is rotated by the spindle motor 30 and includes a parking zone 21 provided at an inner circumferential side of the disk 20 where a slider 42 having the magnetic head mounted thereon is disposed when power is turned off and a data zone 22 provided at an outer circumferential side of the parking zone 21 where magnetic signals are recorded. Reference numeral 23 denotes a zone outside the data zone 22 where data is not actually recorded.
The coupling structure of the housing 10, the spindle motor 30, and the magnetic disk 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The spindle motor 30 is supported by a flange 31, which is fixedly installed on the base plate 11. An upper end portion of a shaft of the spindle motor 30 is fixedly coupled to the cover plate 12 by a screw 36. A bearing 32a is provided around an outer circumference of the shaft 32 so that a hub 33 is rotatable. The disk 20 is inserted around an outer circumference of the hub 33. When a plurality of disks 20 are installed, a ring shaped spacer 34 is installed around the outer circumference of the hub 33 to maintain a gap between the disks 20. A clamp 35 is coupled to an upper end portion of the hub 33 to prevent the disk 20 from escaping.
Referring back to FIG. 1, the actuator 40 is pivotable around a pivot shaft 47 installed on the base plate 11 by a voice coil motor 48. The actuator 40 includes an arm 46 coupled to the pivot shaft 47 to be capable of pivoting and a suspension 44 coupled to the arm 46 and supporting the slider 42 having the magnetic head mounted thereon to be elastically biased toward a surface of the disk 20.
In the conventional hard disk drive having the above structure, the slider 42 is disposed in the parking zone 21 of the disk 20 by an elastic force of a suspension 44 when the power is turned off. When the power is turned on, the disk 20 begins to rotate and a lifting force is generated by air pressure so that the slider 42 is lifted. The slider 42 in a lifted state is moved to the data zone 22 of the disk 20 as the arm 46 of the actuator 40 rotates. The slider 42, which is moved to the data zone 22 of the disk 20, maintains the lifted state at a height where the lifting force by the rotation of the disk 20 and the elastic force by the suspension 44 are balanced. The magnetic head mounted on the slider 42 records and reproduces data with respect to the disk 20 while maintaining a predetermined distance from the rotating disk 20.
However, when an impact is applied from an outside to the conventional hard disk drive, the disk 20 installed in the housing 10 can either be shaken or warped. If Thus, since the outer circumferential side 23 of the disk 20 where no data is recorded contacts the base plate 11 or the cover plate 12, the data zone 22 of the disk 20 does not directly contact the base plate 11 or the cover plate 12. However, if a protruding eject pin, a bur, or a foreign material P exists on an upper surface of the base plate 11 or a lower surface of the cover plate 12, corresponding to the data zone 22 of the disk 20, when the disk 20 collides with the base plate 11 or the cover plate 12, the foreign material P may contact the data zone 22 of the disk 20 so that the data zone 22 of the disk 20 may be damaged.
Further, when the suspension 44 in an elastically biased state is bent by an external impact in a direction opposite to a direction in which the elastic force is applied, as shown in FIG. 3, and bent back by an elastic restoring force to contact the surface of the disk 20, the magnetic head can be damaged by an impact between the magnetic head mounted on the slider 42 and the disk 20.